Data pipelines may sound like something out of a tech engineer’s playbook, but their importance is hard to overstate in a data-driven world where companies need to gather, transform, and utilize data efficiently or risk falling behind. That’s where Rivery, a platform helping businesses streamline this process, is focusing its efforts.
In the latest episode of Grit Daily Startup Show, host John Biggs sat down with Rivery’s co-founder and CEO, Itamar Ben Hemo, to unpack what makes their approach to data movement unique and to delve into how AI is reshaping the game.
What Does Rivery Do?
If the term “data pipelines” sounds complex, don’t worry — you’re not alone. “What we are doing is basically data movement,” Ben Hemo explained, “helping customers to get the maximum value of basically democratized data.”
In plain terms, Rivery enables companies to pull data from a dizzying array of sources — databases, APIs, applications — and consolidate it into data warehouses like Google BigQuery or Snowflake. From there, businesses can transform this data for their needs using tools like Python or SQL.
Why is this important? Imagine trying to sift through mountains of marketing data from hundreds of sources, or replicating databases as your enterprise moves to the cloud. For many companies, this is a barrier to growth. Rivery simplifies the process, making once laborious tasks seamless.
The AI Revolution in Data Connectivity
One of the most exciting shifts in Rivery’s strategy is its embrace of AI. Traditionally, creating new data connectors required significant manual effort. Engineers had to decode documentation, map out APIs, and build connectors line by line. Ben Hemo admitted that this model created bottlenecks: “I told to my team, listen, we cannot wait one month to develop connector because we have a list of 100 for next month.”
The solution? An AI-powered engine that does the heavy lifting. Instead of manually creating each connector, the system scans documentation, learns the specifics on the fly, and generates the connector in seconds. According to Ben Hemo, this innovation isn’t just about speed but also about scalability. “Long term, we won’t develop more new native connectors. Everything will go through this AI engine,” he says.
This pivot could transform how businesses approach data ingestion. Need to integrate an obscure API into your analytics platform? Rivery’s AI can handle it, no hand-coding required.
Data for the Real World: From Telemetry to Transformation
Rivery’s flexibility shines in real-world use cases. Ben Hemo described scenarios ranging from monitoring mining operations to ingesting telemetry data from self-driving trucks. You want all your data — fuel consumption, energy use, speed — on a dashboard. They can make that happen.
Notably, Rivery supports both structured and unstructured data. Whether it’s neatly formatted logs or more chaotic datasets, their platform is equipped to ingest, process, and deliver insights in near real-time.
Will AI Replace Data Engineers?
Whenever automation enters the picture, one question looms: Will people lose their jobs? Ben Hemo doesn’t think so. In fact, he believes AI will empower data engineers to focus on higher-value tasks. It’ll make their life “easier in areas that they don’t want to invest,” he said. Maintaining pipelines for rapidly changing APIs isn’t exactly thrilling work. AI takes over the drudgery, letting engineers focus on innovation.
The Bigger Picture: Consolidating the Data Ecosystem
Ben Hemo also highlighted a growing pain in the industry: fragmentation. Companies often juggle a mishmash of tools for data ingestion, transformation, validation, and orchestration. This patchwork approach creates inefficiencies, not to mention skyrocketing costs. “You don’t want to struggle with five, six tools just to run one data pipeline,” he explained.
Rivery’s vision involves consolidating these processes into fewer, more integrated solutions, with the ultimate goal being to give businesses the agility to act on their data without getting bogged down by infrastructure challenges.
What’s Next for Rivery and Its CEO?
With nearly 500 customers globally, Rivery is just getting started. Every company can use Rivery, according to Ben Hemo, whether they have 50 employees or 50,000. Looking ahead, the company is exploring partnerships with platforms like AWS and OpenAI to deepen its role in the AI-driven data landscape.
As for Ben Hemo himself, he’s not planning to start another company anytime soon. “This will be the last one,” he joked, adding that the potential for Rivery’s growth means his focus won’t waver anytime soon. But, as any entrepreneur knows, building is an addiction. Who knows what the future holds?
